Ruth Padel

Ruth Padel is a writer of unusual range. She has close personal links to Greece, India, classical music, nature, wildlife conservation and science, but is first and foremost an award-winning poet. Her books include thirteen acclaimed poetry collections, two novels, and a wide sweep of non-fiction. She lives in London, is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and Zoological Society of London, and currently Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Magdalene College Cambridge.

Books

Bio

Image: Giliola Christe

To contact Ruth, please email her agent Philip Gwyn Jones at Greyhound Literary.

Recent books

Listen to Ruth reading her poems on water, in her Hazel Press chap-book Watershed, set to mesmerising footage in this nine-minute new film by multimedia artist Diana Scarborough.

“A rhapsodic work: a sensual exploration of female archetypes, and a spiritual quest through ancient mythology, mysticism, fairy-tale, memory. The wonder of being a girl... where a girl / can find clarity on who she is”, vs “the question of power: / and girl is a trajectory / of learning how to deal with it”. — The Guardian

“One of our most gifted poets”
— Mona Arshi

“How seamlessly she melds the realms of feeling with the realms of thought”
— Linda Gregerson

‘Dazzling control of the lyric line’
— Kim Moore

‘A poet and scholar with a beautifully patient understanding, reminiscent of Ted Hughes, of how the natural word invests itself in our experience’
— Telegraph

‘In her work, the journey is the stepping stone to lyrical reflections on the human condition’
— André Naffis-Sahely

‘Only Emily Brontë has embraced Padel’s radical and sympathetic inclusiveness of creaturely life’
— Guardian

‘She brings a poet’s intensity to her prose. Nature is her forte and in the wild she sings her best song’ — Spectator

‘A nature lover’s delight… compelling, acute, lyrical, readable’
— India Today

‘Evocative, entrancing, wonderfully rich and absorbing, She tells a compelling story while deepening understanding of the complexity of our own nature’
— The Scotsman

‘Precise and contemporary, a very present Britain and an ever-present past, transformed by a beautiful imagination. Magical and historical, surprising, elegant, and beautifully written’
— Andrew O’Hagan

Sir Walter Ralegh, poems selected by Ruth Padel

Recent books

“One of our most gifted poets”
— Mona Arshi

“How seamlessly she melds the realms of feeling with the realms of thought”
— Linda Gregerson

‘Dazzling control of the lyric line’
— Kim Moore

‘A poet and scholar with a beautifully patient understanding, reminiscent of Ted Hughes, of how the natural word invests itself in our experience’
— Telegraph

‘In her work, the journey is the stepping stone to lyrical reflections on the human condition’
— André Naffis-Sahely

‘Only Emily Brontë has embraced Padel’s radical and sympathetic inclusiveness of creaturely life’
— Guardian

‘She brings a poet’s intensity to her prose. Nature is her forte and in the wild she sings her best song’ — Spectator

‘A nature lover’s delight… compelling, acute, lyrical, readable’
— India Today

‘Evocative, entrancing, wonderfully rich and absorbing, She tells a compelling story while deepening understanding of the complexity of our own nature’
— The Scotsman

‘Precise and contemporary, a very present Britain and an ever-present past, transformed by a beautiful imagination. Magical and historical, surprising, elegant, and beautifully written’
— Andrew O’Hagan

“I wanted to explore the hold of the past on the present, and the uncertainty we all have about what lies beneath the surface of your life.”

— Ruth Padel on Daughters of the Labyrinth

Recent books

“One of our most gifted poets” — Mona Arshi

“How seamlessly she melds the realms of feeling with the realms of thought” — Linda Gregerson

‘Dazzling control of the lyric line’ — Kim Moore

‘A poet and scholar with a beautifully patient understanding, reminiscent of Ted Hughes, of how the natural word invests itself in our experience’ — Telegraph

‘In her work, the journey is the stepping stone to lyrical reflections on the human condition’— André Naffis-Sahely

‘Only Emily Brontë has embraced Padel’s radical and sympathetic inclusiveness of creaturely life’ — Guardian

‘She brings a poet’s intensity to her prose. Nature is her forte and in the wild she sings her best song’ — Spectator

‘A nature lover’s delight… compelling, acute, lyrical, readable’ — India Today

‘Evocative, entrancing, wonderfully rich and absorbing, She tells a compelling story while deepening understanding of the complexity of our own nature’ — The Scotsman

‘Precise and contemporary, a very present Britain and an ever-present past, transformed by a beautiful imagination. Magical and historical, surprising, elegant, and beautifully written’ — Andrew O’Hagan

“I wanted to explore the hold of the past on the present, and the uncertainty we all have about what lies beneath the surface of your life.”

— Ruth Padel on Daughters of the Labyrinth

“One of our most gifted poets”
— Mona Arshi

“How seamlessly she melds the realms of feeling with the realms of thought”
— Linda Gregerson

‘Dazzling control of the lyric line’
— Kim Moore

‘A poet and scholar with a beautifully patient understanding, reminiscent of Ted Hughes, of how the natural word invests itself in our experience’
— Telegraph

‘In her work, the journey is the stepping stone to lyrical reflections on the human condition’
— André Naffis-Sahely

‘Only Emily Brontë has embraced Padel’s radical and sympathetic inclusiveness of creaturely life’
— Guardian

‘A nature lover’s delight… compelling, acute, lyrical, readable’
— India Today

‘Evocative, entrancing, wonderfully rich and absorbing, She tells a compelling story while deepening understanding of the complexity of our own nature’
— The Scotsman

‘Precise and contemporary, a very present Britain and an ever-present past, transformed by a beautiful imagination. Magical and historical, surprising, elegant, and beautifully written’
— Andrew O’Hagan